June 26-28: Granada

Our main reason for visiting Granada was the Alhambra, a grand Muslim palace. It is currently one of the contenders for the worldwide Australian Idol-like search for the Eighth Wonder Of The World (“SMS your vote now!”). Its history reflects that of the region of Andalucia: 1. Muslims conquer Christians. 2. Muslims build gigantic fortress/palace. 3. Christians conquer Muslims. 4. Christians redesign bits of palace but keep the nice parts.

Welcome to my humble abode.

Nice tiles.

To get in without a pre-booked ticket, one has to line up for two hours at 7 am to guarantee getting in. Even once inside, you can only enter certain areas at certain times, otherwise you are turned away. We saw one Aussie girl crying inconsolably at the entrance to the fortress section because she wasn’t allowed in. There is also video footage on the Internet of spurned visitors coming to blows over tickets outside the Alhambra! Luckily we had pre-booked, which also granted us the privilege of going past the queue to enter without tears or bruises.

View of Granada from fortress tower.

How's the symmetry ...

It took a full day to see the whole complex (a fortress, a palace and a beautiful symmetrical garden), and we must have walked over 15 km. It also marked the first time we had yielded to the allure of buying an audioguide, which is something like having Pierce Brosnan follow you around for a day, whispering historical facts in your ear every five minutes. You can see the attraction. It was both amusing and educational.

The gardens.

Limmy wonders why Vicky wanted him to stand here for this photo.

Andalucia is also the birthplace of flamenco, and we also managed to see a couple of free evening open-air performances as part of some sort of music festival. Actually we had to sort of half-climb a metal fence (Limmy holding the fence, Vicky holding Limmy) located behind the stage. Luckily some of the women had back-less dresses which made us feel as if we had seen something that the front-viewers hadn’t. It’s really just clapping and stamping one’s feet with dramatic hand movements, but everyone loved it.

We also discovered the magic of torta, which is a wedge of coffee ice-cream cake in a cone, as well as free tapas with drinks (they only do it in the south), and Spanish pate. However, we just read about a link between foie gras and amyloidosis in experimental rats, so maybe no more liver products.

The ice-cream is not actually that hard.